Welcome to brain Stuff, the production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here the U. S Capital stands now as the foremost architectural symbol of America. But more than the White House, more than the various monuments that dot Washington, d C's landscape. The Capitol Building perched magnificently for more than two centuries on a hill overlooking the city. In many ways is America. It's where the legislative dirty
work of democracy is done. The Capitol Building, befitting its status, is visited under normal circumstances by more than three million people every year, tourists, school kids, and international visitors bingle over the roughly four acres of grounds on which the Capitol Building sits. The builders envisioned that kind of interest, if not in those numbers, perhaps they saw that the capital would become a symbol for the nation, and thus decided that it should reflect the majesty of the ideas
the United States represents. For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke Ya email with Christopher J. Howard, a professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Catholic University of America in Washington, d C. He said, as a new nation, it was important to set a tone and establish a physical manifestation of the ideas and aspiration that this new nation represented, important for its own
sake but also relative to the world. In projecting a confident identity of democratic values in a new republic meant to endure and be timeless. Settling on exactly how those ideals should be architecturally expressed, though, was hardly self evident. In the end, it was the result of a competition dreamed up by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and judged by Jefferson, President George Washington, and the commissioners of the
District of Columbia. French engineer Pierre Charles Lamfont, who laid out the blueprint for Washington, d C. And the placement of the capital on what was then known as Jenkins Hill, was expected to design the capital building, but after he refused to submit plans he was said to have it all planned out in his head. Jefferson suggested an open competition. The judges received seventeen entrants, they weren't thrilled with any
of them. The plans came from French, German, and Italian architects among others, and all tried to reflect what they thought the fledgling country stood for. From the Library of Congress Archives quote, Most competitors drew upon Renaissance architectural models, either filtered through the lens of eighteenth century English and American Georgian traditions, or based directly on buildings illustrated in
Renaissance treatises. The Capital Competition coincided with nascent neo Classicism in America, in which forms and details from Greek and Roman architecture were revived. Three of the competition entries were inspired by ancient classical buildings. Many of those plans, if they had been realized, would have given a distinctly different flavor to the building from what we have come to know.
Irish architect James Diamond's vision, for example, featured a string of arched windows on the first floor, and the building was capped by a modest dome. A Frenchman, Stephen Hallett, provided a fancy plan in the neoclassical style that was relatively well received but would have made snowy DC winters difficult.
William Thornton, a physician trained in Scotland, submitted a late idea allowed by the largely disappointed judges that envisioned a three section building, a center portion topped by a low dome in the style of the Pantheon in Rome, and two sections on both sides of it, one for the House of Representatives and one for the Senate. Washington lauded
Thornton's work for its quote, grandeur, simplicity, and convenience. The amateur architects plans were ultimately chosen, and Thornton one five hundred dollars and a plot of land in Washington, d C. For his efforts. Howard said Thornton was able to step in with an inspired design idea that clearly resonated with
the selection commission. A part of that success, I believe is attributed to showing a design that resembles what had already been implied and Pierre Leon Fonts plan for Washington, d C. Which already had purchase in terms of the physical imagining of what a capital building might promise. Work on the U S Capital began in sevente By eighteen hundred, though the building wasn't anywhere near finished. The Congress, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the courts of
the District of Columbia moved in. The Congress and Supreme Court had been meeting at Federal Hall in New York City and in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, and with that American Democracy had its permanent home. Through the years, the Capital has undergone many changes, though never straying far from Thornton's neo classical vision. The building was out of flame by the British in the War of eighteen twelve, almost
burning to the ground on August eighteen fourteen. In the second half of the nineteenth century, a major renovation and expansion took place of more than doubling the length of the Capital In eighteen fifty six, and almost four thousand, five hundred ton iron dome replaced a much smaller, copper covered wooden dome over the center section of the building.
In eighteen sixty three, the nineteen and a half foot that's six meter nearly fifteen thousand pounds or seven thousand kilo Statue of Freedom was hoisted to the top of
the new dome. Terraces were added over the years, grounds were improved, renovations were made, and in two thousand and eight, the largest project in the capital's history opened, A five hundred and eighty thousand square foot that's fifty four thousand square meter visitor center located completely underground on the east side of the capital as so not to ruin Thornton's original vision, Howard said, the end product, in many ways seems inevitable by virtue of the many people involved being
guided by the same essential good idea and language, along with basic principles and goals for our nation in mind. This is truly a democratic building and it shows that as a result. I do think it still stands for what Thornton and Jefferson envisioned because it is not a subjective, arbitrary application of architectural language. It is what it was always intended to be and will continue to do so.
Today's episode is based on the article how the US Capital's design was chosen by public competition on how stuff works dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klain. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Two